Witnessing other people's wills and POA's over the past week or so has spurred me into making one of my own.  I don't have much to distribute after I'm gone, but there's a section on the will worksheet that allows me to detail what kind of burial I want (if any).  I like it.  I have some somewhat radical ideas about burial, and I've checked the legitimacy and legality of what I want...so far, all systems are go.

I want a 'green' burial.  I want to be put in the earth, either wrapped in a shroud or in a cardboard casket, and I want to be left there to decay.  I want to let mother earth do her thing with me.  I want to come back as a blade of grass, as a flower, as a tree. 

I DON'T want to be embalmed.  There's no reason to pickle me after I'm gone. 

I DON'T want to be viewed.  I don't want people coming by to look at me when I'm dead, people who perhaps I didn't care for very much in life coming by to say how good I look ...hello, people, I'M DEAD!!!!! I'm not supposed to look good! 

I also don't want a grave liner.  I see no reason for one.  Nor do I want some fancy metal casket...I don't even want a wooden one.  Use the wood to make a bench; plant a willow tree above my grave, put the bench underneath it, and let people come sit and enjoy my shade.  I want either a plain shroud, or if a casket is a must then I want a cardboard one.

Primitive man figured out pretty early on that the best way to dispose of the deceased is to bury them under the ground.  Not only does it take care of the visual and odor problems, decaying folks make pretty good fertilizer too.  Somwhere down the line, we got into the habit of preserving people.....well, it's not for me.

I can't begin to tell you how tickled I am to be able to have my wishes expressed as part of my last will and testament.  This way there will be no doubt, no question, about what I want to happen to me when my body gives out and sets my soul free.  No arguments, no bickering about "what she would have wanted"...it's all there, in black and white.

If I had the money, I'd bequesth 200 acres or so to be used as a 'burial park'.  A place where people who want to be disposed of in the same manner as I could come and have their last wishes granted.  Unfortunately, I don't have that kind of real estate.

But if I did, you can bet your rear end I would.